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Girl · Hebrew
Rebecca
Say it: rih-BEK-uh
Meaning
Hebrew Rivqah. Often connected with a Semitic root meaning 'to tie, bind' (as in a tethering rope), but this is not settled; the meaning 'captivating' found on name lists has no scholarly basis.
Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.
Taken up by English Protestants after the Reformation and common among the Puritans.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1970s
In the United States
- 753,048 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1974, about 1 in 97 girls
- 1,192 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Biblical WorldAbout 1200 BC to AD 100
- The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
- The Age of Revolutions1750 to 1837
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Rebekah, Rebeca
| French | Rébecca |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Rebeca |
| Italian | Rebecca |
| German | Rebekka |
| Polish | Rebeka |
| Hebrew | Rivka |
| Russian | Revekka |
Famous bearers
- Rebekah, wife of Isaac in Genesis
- Rebecca West, British writer
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament
- Puritan church and town records of England and New England
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- National birth statistics of European countries source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.